Hamilton hoping for straight fight with Rosberg

Lewis Hamilton is hoping that he will be able to have a straight fight with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg at this weekend's British Grand Prix.

Mercedes has been affected by problems at Silverstone across the last couple of years, preventing the pair from fighting for victory on a level playing field.

In 2013, Hamilton was leading when a puncture dropped him out of contention for victory and enabled Rosberg to grab the initiative.

Last year, Rosberg was up front before a gearbox issue forced him to slow, conceding the lead to Hamilton prior to ultimately retiring.

"It’s going to be a hard weekend for sure, Nico will be very quick," he said.

"I can’t say who will be our nearest challengers, it could be Williams it could be Ferrari, we need a good qualifying and just extract the most in the race.

"The last few years I’ve not really done spectacularly in qualifying and [in the race] one year it was difficult for Nico with a car issue, the other it was me, so hopefully we can have a fight and have a good race."

Hamilton did not participate in last week's post-race test in Austria and dismissed suggestions that he was reluctant to carry out duties.

"Testing is great, I enjoy it, it wasn’t through not wanting to do it, I had some important things to do, doctor's checks ups and those kind of things and I felt that was more important, which is why I took that decision," he explained.